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2 Thalers Wiedertäufer
| Issuer | City of Münster |
|---|---|
| Year | 1534 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Thalers |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse displays a broad, flat field divided into two concentric zones. The inner zone consists of a raised circular cartouche containing the date 1534 above the two-line mint inscription THO / MVNS / TER ("To Münster"), rendered in bold hammered lettering. The outer legend, running along the full circumference in Early New High German (Low German dialect), reads: INT. RIKE. GODES. EIN. KONINCK. VPRECHT. OVE AL. EIN. GODT. EIN. GELOVE. EIN. DOEPE. 1534 THO MVNSTER, proclaiming Anabaptist theological tenets — "In the Kingdom of God, one King, righteous over all, one God, one Faith, one Baptism." The lettering is separated by decorative star stops and executed in a robust, slightly archaic gothic-influenced hand typical of early sixteenth-century Westphalian die work. The rim is raised and plain, consistent with hammered coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Münster's Anabaptist commune under Jan van Leiden declared the city the "New Jerusalem" in 1534, expelling or killing Catholics and Lutherans alike before instituting polygamy and a theocratic reign of terror that ended when the Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck retook the city in June 1535. This coin was struck during that sixteen-month revolutionary episode — one of the most violently millenarian episodes in Reformation-era Europe. The commune issued its own coinage partly as a declaration of independence, partly as a practical necessity after seizing the city's mint.
Survivors are rare. After the reconquest, van Leiden and two other leaders were tortured to death with red-hot pincers in the Münster marketplace.